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Biking to Build Schools is a 6,000 mile fund-raising bicylcle tour from the tip of South America to Paraguay. Our goal is to increase access to education in rural Paraguay with the funds raised during our trip.
How Donations Will Be Used
We are teamed up with a Paraguayan organization that has over 23 years of work experience. CECTEC (Centro de Educación, Capacitación y Tecnología Campesina or, Center for Education, Capacitation, and Technology for Farm Families) is a Paraguayan not-for-profit NGO. CECTEC's primary goal is to serve impoverished Paraguayan farming communities; the organization gives rural youth the education and tools to become leaders and positive elements of change within their communities. Their work focuses on rural youth education, sustainable agriculture, gender equality, and community organization, with an emphasis on local participation. To achieve their goals, CECTEC constructs schools and community centers, runs an educational radio station, and offers courses in leadership building, communication, and gender rights.
With the donations raised from our bike trip, CECTEC will build schools and sanitary bathrooms, improve existing schools' infrastructure, provide needed didactic materials, furnish classrooms, and install playground equipment.
In addition to CECTEC, we will be working with an American counterpart, InterConnection. InterConnection provides low-cost computers to schools, nonprofits, and other organizations in developing countries. They will be donating refurbished computers to all of the schools involved in our project.
 
| | Our Mission & Goal Paraguay’s educational system is the second worst in the western hemisphere. In rural areas, communities frequently lack primary and secondary schools, and children of all ages must walk from 3 to 10 miles round-trip to attend class. Many existing schools are dangerously dilapidated and do not have sanitary bathrooms or potable water, making for very poor learning environments. The average drop-out rate after the 6th grade in rural areas is over 60%.
We want to change this situation in as many rural Paraguayan communities as we can. We are biking from the tip of South America back to Paraguay in order to raise awareness and funds to improve the educational opportunities of countless Paraguayan youths. Education enables people to make their own decisions and take control of their lives. It creates opportunities where before there were none. It is crucial in improving lives and generating positive social change.
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About The Trip
On January 1st, 2009 we began our bicycle trip in Ushuia, Argentina, the Tierra del Fuego. From there, we will weave a trail through the southern Andes in Argentina and Chile. We will ride through Patagonia, up the famous Carretera Austral, through the Argentinean Seven Lakes District, across to Chile's Pacific Coast, and cross the Andes in the shadow of the Anconcagua Mountain into Argentina. From there, we will ride through the Argentinean pampas to Buenos Aires and up through Uruguay until we reach our home, Paraguay. We will ride roughly 6000 miles over the course of 5 to 6 months to meet our minimum fund-raising goal of 35,000 USD.
The Team!
From left to right: Karina Bianchi (CECTEC), Ada Rosa Martinez (CECTEC), David Miranda (CECTEC), Charles Brennick (InterConnection), Karen Schlatter (Biker #1), Joel Correia (Biker #2)
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